Olivia Ducholke

      The learning theory that reflects my learning habits most strongly is connectivism. Connectivism is the process of developing connections as a means of and throughout individual learning. These connections can be with people, with relevant experiences or with tools that can help us learn. Connectivism speaks to me even in the name itself. I learn the most deeply when I experience something or do it hands on and then relate it or can draw from it in order to learn a theory or a concept. I would much rather listen to a lecture or have a face-to-face conversation with someone as a means of learning than have to read a chapter to find the information on my own. As well, connectivism acts for me not only as a process of learning but a coping mechanism. Learning new things and keeping on top of new theories and strategies can be very time consuming and overwhelming, especially in a profession where things are constantly evolving and what you know or can do to help a child can make or break their learning experience. Connectivism reduces the pressure and stress in that there is the capacity to learn more and the connections with tools, people and sources that can provide you with information as a quick reference and to learn things as you need them, opposed to memorizing things in case you ever need them. The last way that connectivism appeals to me is that I tend to focus a lot on the big picture and the grand scheme of things rather than smaller details of specific situations. This can be a hindrance sometimes but others it helps me to see how details can be important and how small menial tasks can be relative to something bigger I am striving for. The ability to see the connections between these things and the sources of information provides me with a bigger bank of information to draw upon when I need it. Collecting information as I need it allows me the opportunity to gather the most current and up to date data on my area of focus as well.

 

Technology is definitely an aid in this method of learning. The thing about most technologies today is that they are primarily web-based tools that allow us different efficiencies. The web itself is inherently a connection, if we look at the word “web” we can define it as a system of interconnected elements and right away see that it lends itself well to this learning theory of connectivism.

 

1 - PLNs: Professional Learning Networks such as Twitter or Edmodo allow users to find and connect with other knowledgeable professionals for friendship and/support based on similar interests or areas of focus. The initial connection with these people allows us the potential to learn just from talking to them. Beyond learning through simple communication with these people, these PLNs also allow users to share applications and information sources that they have found useful and thus, allow us to sift through what others have shared for our own learning.

 

2 - Technology at our fingertips allows us to access information immediately as we need it. It also allows searching for the type of information we need to become faster and easier. We can use search engines to search the entire web or search by hashtags on Twitter or other sharing sites to see posts made by others that we might find relevant to our specific quest.

3 -  Beyond the fact that technologies exist to provide another avenue to connect with people and information, we can also see technology as a means of connecting with tools. In considering the web as a technology that allows us to search for tools, the list of results it will give us is endless. In considering technology itself as tool, different tools allow us access to a wide array of programs that we can use to save our data or to bring together different pieces of information from different sources in a way that allows us to display their connection more holistically or to create a more well-rounded lesson or explanation to something.